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Page 1 of 12  Oh, how I miss Gilda Radner, the wonderfully wacky comedienne from the original “Saturday Night Live” cast. When I watch reruns of SNL and see Radner performing her memorable characters Emily Litella, Baba Wawa, and Roseanne Roseannadanna, I laugh and get sad at the same time.
In 1989, Radner, at 42, died of ovarian cancer, an insidious form of the disease that kills too many women a year. I thought about her early this morning when I read this on the Internet:
British researchers say The Pill may help protect women from ovarian cancer, even after they stop taking the contraceptive, possibly for as long as 30 years. In fact, the longer a woman takes the pill, the greater the protection, according to the study in The Lancet, a British medical journal.
The news comes as welcomed relief to doctors and women, because there is no reliable screening test for ovarian cancer, unlike the PSA test for prostate cancer. Ovarian cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in women, with older women being most at risk and survival rates very low.
Linked to ovulation? The researchers at Oxford University’s Cancer Research UK say oral contraceptives may protect against ovarian cancer regardless of the type of pill, when women started taking it, or how strong it was. They believe that the protection is linked to the pill reducing the number of times a woman ovulates.
Use of the pills cut the number of cases from about 12 women per 1,000 to eight per 1,000 women from 12, and the number of deaths to five instead of seven per 1,000, says Valerie Beral, the lead researcher.
In fact, she adds, oral contraceptives have prevented about 200,000 cases of ovarian cancer and 100,000 deaths, and may prevent at least 30,000 cases of cancer a year over the next few decades.45 studies in 21 counties. Beral reached her conclusiosn after analyzing 45 studies in 21 countries. Her project involved nearly 24,000 women with ovarian cancer—31 percent were on the pill—and more than 87,000 women without ovarian cancer—37 percent were on the pill. Wider use?
More than 100 million women around the world use oral contraceptives, which contain the hormones estrogen and progestin or progestin alone. Oral contraceptives also can raise slightly a woman’s risk of breast and cervical cancer, but those risks disappear after women stop taking the pill.
Oral contraceptives also have shown protective effects against endometrial and colorectal cancer, the Oxford researchers note.
As a result of the findings, an editorial in The Lancet called for wider use of contraceptives, saying the benefits outweigh the risks. However, many doctors caution that women shouldn’t take the contraceptives purely to avoid cancer. Side effects include the risk of blood clots, migraine headaches and high blood pressure, especially in women in their late 30s and those who smoke. As a result, women should do their homework and make their own decisions on whether to get on The Pill.
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